A multiconductor, shielded cable typically has two or more individually insulated conductor wires that are twisted around each other. The conductors are surrounded by a braided metal shield that is further covered by an outer jacket. The twisted shape of the conductors defines the shape of the shield and jacket, which gives the cable's outer surface a twisted, irregular shape.
As the skilled person would know, a certain length of both the cable's jacket and the underlying shield must first be stripped off the end of the cable in order to access the conductors for making electrical connections with their ends. When stripping the cable, it is important that the shield not be nicked during cutting and removing the jacket, because it is often a requirement that a certain length of undamaged shield protrude beyond the cut line on the jacket. During shield removal, it is also important that the insulation on the underlying conductors not be nicked.
Because the cable's outer surface is irregular, it is not amenable to stripping via known automated wire strippers. Therefore, each cable has required hand stripping, which involves a laborer first using a blade to cut around the end of the cable's jacket, thus defining the length of the portion to be removed (this is commonly called a "slug"), followed by hand-bending and twisting the cable's end to remove the slug and expose the shield. The shield is thereafter removed by bunching it up near the cut line on the jacket, and snipping it off with shears, or otherwise removing it by a similar procedure.
Hand stripping multiconductor cables is slow, and therefore represents significant labor costs in manufacturing environments where hundreds or thousands of multiconductor cables are used. For this reason, there has been a long-felt need to develop automated machinery that can quickly strip the jacket and shield from these kinds of cables without damaging either the shield or the underlying conductors. As will become apparent, the present invention provides such a machine.